When All Else Fails
by Miss Arrowette Unicorn
Summary: When the team figures out Artemis's past in the worst way possible, it seems as though her life is falling apart around her.  Can Artemis pull through, or will she give in to the life she swore never to go back to?  Please read n' review!
1. Loosing

Artemis looked around the abandoned building warily, expecting her father to jump out at her any second, but surprisingly, the search through the warehouse had been uneventful, nothing disturbing the eerie silence that hung over the building.

_* * * Flashback * * *_

"_There has been a break-out in Belle Reve Penitentiary, and four high security prisoners escaped," Batman instructed the team, who had gathered to one of the many rooms in the cave. _

_Artemis had stationed herself at the back, quietly watching. She already knew about this, hadn't she cried herself to sleep because of it? _

_Batman continued on "The prisoners that escaped are Icicle Jr. and Sr. Jinx and the Terror Twins" Artemis stiffened, unnoticed by the rest of the team, she could tell what this mission was going to be before Batman said it, "Your job, is to re-capture them," _

"_Hard-core!" the archer heard Kid-Flash fist-bump with his raven-haired friend. _

_Aqualad stepped forward, "Will there be others joining them?" he asked calmly._

_Batman brought up several screens showing an old, rundown building, "Cheshire, Sportsmaster, Hook and Black Spider issued the breakout, so it is likely they will be there too. Now," the Dark Knight moved on, "We have tracked them to this abandoned warehouse," he pointed to the screen, "You will infiltrate the area and take them down using whatever means necessary," and with that, he walked out of the room._

* * * End of Flashback * * *

Already Artemis would imagine here teammates reactions to her origins, she could picture Wally's outburst and see herself being thrown away yet again. _I am going to loose the only family that ever truly cared about me, _Artemis thought to herself, when suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted.

""_I found something guys"" _Miss Martian proclaimed, her voice echoing inside of the team's heads. _""There is a hidden room and,"" _Miss Martian's voice was cut off by a scream that Artemis heard through the walls.

""_Megan!" _Conner yelled in desperation, several bangs followed, Artemis guessed that it was Connor smashing through the walls to 'protect' her. _""They're here!"" _he shouted mentally to the team. _""They were hiding in a secret basement,""_

""_Not so secret anymore,"" _Artemis grumbled, but she quickly broke from her hiding place that she had been using during the search. Hoping to get to the villains before her friends did.

As she turned the corner, Artemis would have groaned, there the team was, locked in a ferocious battle. Though they were clearly outnumbered, each of her friends fought with energy and skill. Connor was pounding Black Spider, never allowing his foe to get the upper hand, just like Black Canary had taught him. Robin was snickering and dodging Jinx's vigorous attacks, continuously hitting her with batarangs while also battling hook. Even Kid-Idiot was fighting well; taking on Camer-Icicle Jr. Artemis quickly corrected herself. That only left Cheshire and Sportsmaster, who were seemingly fighting over a keyboard and Artemis already knew who was going to win.

It was time to act, but Artemis felt as though her body turned to lead. Nothing would move no matter how much she willed it to. Her family was fighting her family! No mater who she fought, she was loosing. Her team can first, but would she be strong enough to fight the villains that she had been allied with for so long? Then, before her eyes Kid Flash was turned into a Popsicle. Ice, freezing around him, incasing him in a deadly cold. Artemis's eyes widened, _how could Cameron have done that? _A rage filled inside of her and she ran at him.

_* * * Flashback * * *_

_9 Months Pervious_

"_Please Arty I-" Cameron started, but was quickly interrupted. _

"_It's Artemis," she stated harshly, "and nothing you say will allow me to forgive _you," her voice sounded strong, confident, but on the inside, she was falling apart.

"_You know that I still love you. My father has given me no choice" He started but Artemis again interrupted him._

"_You liar! I heard you and your father talking!" She yelled, angrily at Cameron. "All you care about is your job! Come clean Cam, then you and I can stop this worrying, stop living in fear that superman is going to come busting though and arrest us all! We can stop watching our backs!" she knew the last one was a lie, but she had to try to get him to stop his criminal activities. _

_Cameron laughed, "You think that we would stop watching our backs? And you call be a liar," he chuckled as though it was ridiculously funny, "We could have to leave the country to sleep safe at night, you don't just retire Arty,"_

"_But" Artemis persisted, desperately trying to hold back her tears. _

"_No buts, and besides, why stop at something your good at? With our ties, we could have an easy life," he tried again._

"_No," she whispered fiercely._

"_Goddammit Artemis, stop this nonsense!" Carmon shouted, icicles shooting from his fingertips uncontrollably. "I love you, please stop pulling away because of the stupid greater good!" He froze Artemis's hand to the counter of her house._

"_Sorry, but I cannot," was all she said, tears now running down her cheeks, "I think that this should be where we part ways," _

"_Fine," he spat at her, and walked out of the small apartment. _

_* * * End of Flashback * * * _

Artemis sent a volley of arrows flying at Icicle Jr. each of them was frozen midflight. She scowled, he always beaten her when their fathers had pitted them against each other in 'Combat Training'. They circled around each other and out of the corner of her eye; she could see Sportsmaster rattling away as Cheshire and Aqualad seemed to be having a fight to the death.

Artemis reached her hand back into her quiver and found the one arrow she knew would take Cameron down. She had designed it after a humiliating defeat to make her father proud. The arrow would shut down his freezing powers for a while, covering his body in sand. She had showed Cameron once, and Artemis could only hope that he did not remember the design.

She sent the arrow flying through the air, missing Cameron's icicles and hitting him squarely in the chest. At impact, the green arrow exploded and covered him in gray sand. The ice around his body disappeared; his pale blue skin was soon covered in a grainy gray powder.

"Sand," Icicle Jr. gasped, falling to the ground. Only his face was left uncovered, but that was enough to see the betrayal in his eyes as he seemed to make the connection. "Arty?"

Artemis stiffened at the mention of her old nickname.

"Artemis? Is that you?" Cameron asked weakly, the sand quickly covering up his ice-based powers, "How could you?" he asked, betrayal laced in his hurt.

Her whole body turned to stone just as it had when she had first seen the team fight with the villains. _Why am I showing this weakness? _"You tell me," Artemis told him flatly and turned to the key board in which Sportsmaster was located, _time for the real test._


	2. Weakness

**Thanks for all the positive feedback guys! Sorry about the spelling mistakes and typos, I wrote this in the early hours of the morning when I had a plot bunny that I knew I would forget. Because I am new, I don't really know how to edit an already published chapter, could you guys tell me how? This is my first fan fiction ever, so I am pretty exited. **

**Another note: I am really bad at writing action scenes so sorry that you had to read this…**

**P.S. Sorry for the short chapter, I promise I will write a longer one soon!**

**DISCLAIMER! I OWN NOTHING!**

**Rated Teen because I am paranoid ….**

Sportsmaster turned around just in time to block Artemis's volley of arrows. "Should have known that you would be here, you filthy traitor," he spit at the ground.

Artemis held her tongue, though there were plenty of things that she wanted to say plenty. Saying anything would only make matters worse. Her best hope was to not allow him to say anything and get him to jail before he ruined her life once more.

"Oh, have I said something wrong?" he sneered, "Surly I raised you better than that."

Artemis noticed her team's eyes looking towards her, so she attempted to cover up, "I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Oh, you don't do you? I'm sure that your mother knows…" Sportsmaster's voice trailed off, noticing his daughters cringe.

If looks could kill, Sportsmaster would have been dead on the ground, for Artemis's glare could rival even his. She fired several more arrows at him, each of them blocked as easily as the last. Around her she could see her teammates defeating the crooks and already Kid Flash had vibrated his way out of the chilly prison he had been confined to by Icicle Jr. Artemis's teammates rushed over to help her, save Aqualad who was still battling Cheshire.

"No, this is family business! Stay out of this!" he shouted and Artemis knew it was over as he walked over towards her. She folded her bow in and brought out her crossbow. "You're showing weakness Artemis, you can do better," Sportsmaster observed mockingly.

_* * * Flashback * * *_

_Sweat was dripping down her neck and yet it still was only halfway through her training session. She reached for her bottle of water, but it was knocked out of Artemis's reach, splashing the precious liquid all over the table. _

_A hand came down and backhanded her. "I said no water!" her father hissed as the blood dripped down her chin._

"_B-but I'm thirsty," Artemis stuttered, exhausted, wishing that she could only curl up in a ball and die. _

"_I don't care if you drop dead on the floor, you finish your target practice," he hissed at the small girl._

_Artemis looked longingly at the pool of water, "Daddy," she whimpered, but was interrupted by her father who pushed her to the ground and drew out a hunting knife._

"_You're showing weakness Artemis, you can do better," Lawrence responded heartlessly, "And we don't want what happened last time you showed weakness, "_

_Artemis's eyes grew wider at the sight of the blade, "N-no Daddy! I promise I'll be strong!"_

_* * * End of Flashback * * *_

Artemis backed up and shot several arrows at him, which he deflected with a baseball bat. Cheshire sneaked behind her and pushed Artemis to the ground, her mask grinning down at her, "Sorry sis, nothing personal," she purred before quickly running over to the computer screen. "Time to go," with that, she brought out a small remote and before anyone could do anything about it, she pressed it and the villains disappeared.

The team's gasps echoed through the room. Superboy sprinted over to Miss Martian whom still has smoke coming off of her, Artemis guessed that it was Sportsmaster who attacked her. Robin looked around the room scowling "They're gone," was all he said, feeling around the room for any hidden door.

Kaldur was a familiar sight, though none of the team was glad about that. Four poisoned shurikens stuck out from him in all angles, his body sprawled across the floor. Artemis moved towards him, only to be stopped by Wally.

"Don't go near him!" he ordered her angrily.

"What do you mean Baywatch? He's hurt," Artemis scoffed, attempting to get to Aqualad.

"He doesn't need help from traitors like you," Wally answered coldly.

"What are you talking about?" Artemis questioned him, her heart becoming more frantic, her mind rattling with fear.

It was Conner, this time who spoke, "I think we both know that." And when Artemis turned around, she didn't see her friend speaking to her, she saw a look of rage in him, a look that he saved for enemies, and enemies alone.

**Please Read and Review! Thanks so much!**

**Miss Arrowette Unicorn**


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